Failed Mission
by Shirohane
Summary: Despite failing his solo mission due to a misunderstanding, Sasuke does not feel too bad about it. After all, he found something more important in his mission... Mild SasuNaru.


Uchiha Sasuke, aged twelve and a half, was the top rookie of his year. Not only was he from an excellent bloodline of the famous Uchiha clan, he had a beautiful face, received top marks at the academy, had amazing amount of chakra and stamina, and had the ability to learn anything quickly and efficiently. His natural gifts were only enhanced by his diligence. Sasuke was not a genius by birth like his brother. He had worked until he collapsed from exhaustion to get to where he was now. He was not lazy. When he didn't understand something, he studied extra hours until he understood it. When a jutsu did not work out well, he practiced until it came out perfectly. Yes, Sasuke was a born genius and a hard-worker, and together the two factors worked wonders.

Sasuke took his missions very, very seriously. The first few missions that Team 7 were given were mundane and more annoying than anything else. They were disappointing. But Sasuke did not complain (except give very, very dirty looks to Kakashi) and continued to do his best in each missions, and finally his chance came.

One day Kakashi called him over when Team 7's mission was over and Sakura and Naruto had already left. He quietly told Sasuke that he was given his own mission, and would he be interested in taking it?

Trying to hide his excitement, Sasuke nodded yes.

"Don't tell Naruto or Sakura," Kakashi said, looking apologetic (at least, as apologetic as he could look with only one eye showing from his completely covered face). "I think it will wound Naruto's pride to learn that you were given your own mission, and I think even Sakura will feel somewhat irked. You know what I'm saying, right?"

Sasuke nodded again. He wanted to gloat in front of Naruto, tease him a little about receiving his own mission, but he could do it in the future. Surely he would be given much more mission than Naruto in the future, and right now it was more important to obey and please his leader and tutor than anything else. Kakashi seemed more relieved and handed a scroll to Sasuke.

"Right, here are your instructions. If you have any questions, feel free to call me anytime. You have my cell phone number, don't you?"

Sasuke nodded yet again. Kakashi ruffled his hair (which really annoyed him) and walked away with his nose buried in his adult book (stupid pervert, Sasuke disdainfully noted to himself). Sasuke opened the scroll containing the instructions.

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up and his lips curled in a sneer as his eyes traveled lower and lower, scanning the document. He wondered if he should call out to Kakashi and tell him that he didn't want to do this mission after all. However, he held back. After all, everyone started out from the bottom. After he finished stupid missions, surely he would be entrusted with more difficult ones.

With this thought reassuring him, Sasuke headed home to eat and sleep. No matter how vapid mission a shinobi was given, he should always be well prepared.

The next morning, as Sasuke brushed his teeth, he glanced over the instructions again. Holding the scroll in two fingers and keeping it well away from his face (he didn't want toothpaste to get on the scroll) Sasuke silently repeated the instructions to himself. When he was done, he burned the scroll, flushed the ashes down the toilet, and spat out the foam in his mouth. He finished washing up, got dressed, and left his house.

As Sasuke walked towards the florist, he wondered what would be the best approach to go about his mission. He wanted to do the best he could and get a good recommendation from Kakashi, but the mission definitely had its flaws. He glanced at the length of shadows that the sun made and hurried his strides. It was nearing two o'clock and he certainly shouldn't be late to his mission, no matter how stupid it sounded.

Roses would be too flashy and suggestive, Sasuke decided. Picking up a dozen daffodils (the blond girl in the shop, whatever her name was, looked like she would faint and Sasuke wondered why) Sasuke hurried towards the central. Upon arriving, Sasuke glanced at the clock and was relieved to find that he had about five minutes to spare. Leaning against a tree, Sasuke carelessly held the flowers in one hand behind his back while he scanned the crowd for his target.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke felt like cursing, but he kept his face expressionless. Sakura ran towards him, a big smile on her face. He fervently hoped that Sakura would just go away and not see him as he finished his mission, but it seemed that there was little chance of that. Only three minutes were left until he target was supposed to arrive.

"What are you doing here? What is that behind your back? Oh my gosh, are those flowers? Who gave them to you, Sasuke-kun? You never accept gifts!"

"Sakura."

"What is it, Sasuke-kun?"

"Go away and leave me alone."

Sasuke practically grind out the last few words. One minute left. Kakashi would not like it if Sakura found out about his mission and complained to him about it. He felt like hitting her. Why wouldn't she go away and leave him alone? He always found her annoying, but at times like these, he really wondered what Iruka had against him. Why did he team him up with a stupid, useless girl like her who didn't know when to shut up and leave? Naruto was stupid, too, but at least he did his share of work. And Naruto could take Sasuke's cold words without bawling his eyes out every time Sasuke grew impatient and said something acidic.

Which the girl was doing right now.

"Sasuke-kun... So mean... Why are you always so meaaaaan to meeeeee?"

She started to wail like a banshee, but Sasuke wasn't paying attention to her. He was looking at his target, his eyes wide-open. Was this some kind of sick joke?

No, no one else in the square fit the description. Blond, blue-eyed, wearing a black shirt.

"Dead-last!"

"Don't call me dead-last! Aaah! What are you doing with Sakura-chan, you bastard?! Are you secretly on a date with her?!"

Sasuke felt like puking at that comment. He would rather go out with Naruto than get anywhere near Sakura with a ten-feet pole. Heck, he would rather go out with Kakashi. At least Kakashi didn't insult other people for not having parents, or look at him with love-sick eyes that made him feel sick (never mind the fact that he didn't have parents either and she had just indirectly insulted him).

He pushed Sakura out of the way (she was still crying) and hit Naruto over the head with the daffodils he was carrying.

The instructions didn't say how he had to deliver the flowers, after all.

"Ow! What was that for?! And why is Sakura-chan crying?! Did you... Can it be... Did you kiss her?!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!"

Okay, he was going to be sick now.

"I'd rather kiss the third hokage!" Sasuke barked, hitting Naruto with the flowers again. "Here, take this and get out of my face!"

Sasuke shoved the daffodils at Naruto's arms and stormed away, leaving Naruto to gape after him. The abused flowers weren't doing so well and one of them got decapitated. However, they were still beautiful flowers and Naruto wondered exactly why Sasuke gave him his flowers. And then it dawned him.

"Hey, throw out your own garbage, jerk!" Naruto furiously shouted after Sasuke's retreating back. Then he turned to crying Sakura. "Sakura-chan? Don't cry... What did Sasuke do?"

"Ew, don't talk to me!" Sakura shouted, her mascara smeared all over her face. "Sasuke-kun left because you said stupid things! Why did I have to be on the same team as you?! Iruka-sensei is so mean!"

She pushed him aside and left. Naruto was starting to feel really angry.

'Why is everyone picking on me?! I'm just here to buy some tofu for Iruka-sensei; what did I do?!' He fumed as he walked towards the marketplace to buy the tofu. It was only after he came back to Iruka's apartment and Iruka cheerfully said, "What beautiful flowers, Naruto," that he remembered the flowers he held in his hand with a death-grip.

"It's trash," Naruto mumbled, looking around for a trash can to throw away the bouquet.

"Nonsense, it's bought very recently. Look, some of them are not even fully opened yet. Let's put them in a vase," Iruka said, holding out his hand. Naruto didn't want to keep the flowers that Sasuke had thrown away, but he handed the daffodils to Iruka. No sense arguing with the person who was going to feed you in few more minutes.

* * *

  
When Sasuke came home, he discovered another scroll with instructions. He wondered if he should quit while he was ahead. This was starting to be ridiculous.

"A box of chocolates?" He read out loud, reading twice to make sure he did not read anything wrong. "Blond, blue eyes, will be holding a red bag, orange jacket..."

Sasuke shrugged, burned the scroll and checked the sun. He had three hours to kill before he had to perform his mission. He picked up a box of chocolates—a simple sampler, white box tied with a blue satin ribbon—and returned home. After a sandwich, glass of milk, and a novel, Sasuke was ready to tackle the next part of his mission.

'I probably got the wrong person last time,' Sasuke thought. 'Yes, of course that's it. I shouldn't have been so hasty. This time I would give these chocolates to the right person.'

He walked towards the Konoha park. The breeze felt refreshing against his cheek and the air smelled of grass clippings. Children shrilly screamed and laughed as they played, and mothers sat on benches and gossiped amongst themselves. Sasuke sat down on an empty bench and placed the chocolates on his lap, patiently waiting for his mission target to arrive. Few minutes later, his target arrived. Sasuke stared. He glanced at the chocolates, then stared some more at his target.

"Why should I give Naruto a box of chocolates?" Sasuke asked himself. He didn't mind sharing his lunch with Naruto if Naruto didn't have anything to eat himself. Sasuke had always wanted to be friends with Naruto ever since they were small boys, but he felt embarrassed to approach Naruto first because Naruto was always alone and the other kids always made fun of him. His parents were not very approving of Naruto and Naruto himself always stuck his tongue out when he saw Sasuke, so Sasuke (being a mature boy he was) stuck his tongue out, too. So he was glad of the chance to be friends with Naruto now.

But why would anyone give him a mission to give Naruto flowers and chocolates?

'Is it Iruka-sensei?' Sasuke wondered to himself. He remembered Iruka had always encouraged Sasuke and Naruto to get along. Iruka may be the one who gave him this mission. Yes, it was most likely Iruka's doing. As far as he knew, Iruka never had a girlfriend, so he probably didn't know that flowers and chocolates were given to one's girlfriend, not guy friend.

Sasuke liked Iruka. He wanted to humor him. Anyway, the mission wasn't hard and if he competed it successfully, he could file a mission report on his records and Kakashi may even write him a good recommendation.

Naruto, wearing his usual orange jacket (earlier in the afternoon, Naruto had taken off his jacket and tied it around his waist, thus wearing his black undershirt) and holding a red wallet, was struggling to count out the change for a cotton candy. The vendor was waiting patiently, but he didn't seem too pleased at having to sell his merchandise to a child cursed with the dreaded kyuubi inside his body. Somehow his disdainful look angered Sasuke. So what if Naruto was slightly different from everyone else? Even though Sasuke always made fun of Naruto, he acknowledged him as his only true rival. Naruto had limitless potentials and Sasuke was eager to help him grow. Besides, Naruto was his only friend.

Sasuke stalked over to the two and just when Naruto found the last coin he wanted, Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him away.

"Sa, Sasuke?!" Naruto asked, surprised. The vendor was too indignant and shocked to say anything. When Sasuke had gotten Naruto away from all prying eyes, he shoved the box of chocolates at his face.

"Here, if you want to eat sweets, stop eating those junk and eat something more high-quality. You'll get a tummy-ache if you continue to shovel those garbage into your system."

"Cotton candy is not gar… Hey, is this chocolate?" Naruto shook the box. Sasuke was tempted to yell at him for shaking the box. He would mess up the nicely decorated candies, that moron! But Sasuke only icily watched as Naruto ripped the ribbon and wrapping off of the box and gaped at the contents. "Oh, these are… Sasuke, I love these! How did you…"

What happened next was so unexpected that Sasuke was left quite speechless. Naruto suddenly smiled at him, his beautiful blue eyes softened to twinkle in the setting sun. His golden hair lit up brightly as if each strands were made from strands of sun light, and his cherubic face looked even more rounded and cute than usual. Naruto's cheeks were heated up to a rich pink color.

What, what was up with that expression…?

"Um, how did you know that it was my birthday today? The flowers are for me, too, right?"

"You…?"

"I thought the only person who knew was Iruka-sensei! You're normally an asshole, but… You can be really nice, too, can't you?"

"No, I... I mean, I..."

Sasuke tried to explain. He tried to tell Naruto that this was only a mission, that he didn't remember Naruto's birthday, that he did not mean to get such beautiful smile out of him. His legs felt weak and his heart was wildly pounding. His lips were opened, but no sound escaped from them. If Sasuke did not have such a strong grip on himself, he would've blushed. Mortifying.

"Oh yeah, do you want to come eat dinner with me at Iruka-sensei's place? He made lot of good stuff, and he bought me a cake, too. It'll be a lot of fun. You want to come, right?"

Sasuke allowed Naruto to grab his wrist and drag him off to Iruka's place. Naruto's hand felt clammy and sweaty, but most wonderfully warm and soft. As the two boys walked in the path lit golden orange by the setting sun, all that occupied Sasuke's mind was Naruto's pleasant voice humming in his ear (he stopped paying attention to whatever it was he was babbling about after first five minutes), Naruto's scent, and Naruto's brilliant, brilliant blue eyes that lit up with smile every so often.  


* * *

  
And he got into trouble the next day.

"I thought I could depend on you, Sasuke!" Kakashi scolded. He didn't look as upset as he sounded. But then again, Sasuke could only see one eye. "If you didn't want to do this mission, you could've just refused! What is the meaning of accepting a mission and then refusing to complete it? You have given a very bad image for our team!"

"But... But I did finish the mission," Sasuke protested, starting to be slightly angry.

"I know she showed up two hours late in both of the missions, but it was her birthday and her parents spent a lot of money employing you to make her happy," Kakashi continued, ignoring Sasuke's protest. "She has crush on you, you know, so her parents especially asked that you give her chocolates and flowers to her. And you had to go and stand her up! She nearly died when she found out that it was you who was supposed to meet her!"

"...Two hours late?"

"You gave the gifts to a wrong person, didn't you? I thought it would be okay because Konoha rarely has anyone who has blond hair and blue eyes, but I can't believe you chose the wrong person both times. Who did you give the gifts to, anyway?"

Sasuke shut his mouth, his eyes narrowing. His cheeks were threatening to turn red, and he fiercely thought about something else. Tuna fish for lunch. Bath after dinner. "Guide to Keeping Kunai" before sleeping. How many chapters should he read?

"Well, at least you made some girl happy at the expense of our client... Wait until Sakura and Naruto hear about how you tarnished our team image."

"Don't tell them!"

Sasuke had shouted without thinking. Kakashi's eyes were wide-open with surprise. They stared at each other for a long time without any words, then Sasuke dropped his gaze to the floor. He softened his voice.

"Please don't tell them."

"...Is it that embarrassing?"

It had nothing to do with embarrassment. Sasuke knew that he wasn't perfect; that he was prone to mistakes and failures. Sure it would be annoying to hear Naruto's taunts and Sakura's sympathetic words, but he could handle that.

But how would Naruto look if he knew that Sasuke had not really remembered his birthday? That it was only a mistake in his mission that he spent the day with Naruto yesterday? Would he stop smiling that beautiful smile of his? Would his clear blue eyes dull with disappointment again, his shoulders drooping dejectedly?

He would rather die than to see that.

Sasuke nodded and Kakashi ruffled Sasuke's hair, which made Sasuke want to kill him. He spent two hours early in the morning trying to tame the wild spikes and he didn't appreciate Kakashi rubbing off all the hair gels. Naruto would make fun of him again, saying that he looked like...

What did he care what Naruto said?

"Sensei, you're so late! What were you... Eh, Sasuke?"

"Sasuke-kun, if you were with him you should have made him come to the meeting place faster!"

Sasuke walked up to Naruto and Sakura, his emotions in a whirl inside of his heart. He felt strange. When he saw Naruto's stupid face smiling up at him, he sharply smacked him.  


* * *

  
"Sasuke... Sasuke, Sasuke!!!"

It hurt.

"Sasuke? Sasuke, answer me!"

Ah, how annoying. His cries were hurting his ears...

"Why, Sasuke?! Why did you protect me for?!"

His vision was getting hazy. At this rate, he won't be able to see that beautiful smile any longer...

"I... don't know, you idiot. My body moved on its own..."

Sasuke tasted metal at the back of his throat. Another lie... Naruto would never find out about his other lie, would he? That he had forgotten his birthday. That he really liked spending time with Naruto that day. That it was a lot of fun.

That he had fallen in love with Naruto.

"SASUKE!!!"  
- END -

It's refreshing to write about grumpy, stubborn but sweet 1st season Sasuke. Aaaah, he was so cute back then. sighs (Of course sexy dynamite present-day-Sasuke is absolutely LOVE, too, but... laughs)

There is this KaiJyo fan fiction written by S-nim that I absolutely, totally loved, in which Kaiba accidentally sends "date" invitations to Jounouchi and ends up falling in love with him while going out on those mistaken dates. If you know Korean, you must, must read it; it's the sweetest, cutest KaiJyo I've ever read. v This fan fiction takes that basic idea. I thought mission idea would work quite well with that idea. laughs


End file.
